“Interfering with human rights through sensible regulation has always been a part of history. A range of mandates have applied across all societies with the intention of protecting the vulnerable,” writews columnist MICHAEL MOORE. 

THE anti-mandate protesters came to Canberra to make a point. Similar protests were held in Canada, NZ and across the world. The trouble for the protesters in Australia is that they chose the wrong city.

The protests are fundamentally about personal freedom and “my right to choose” as opposed to accepting government decisions to maintain a healthy community at the price of losing some personal freedoms. 

A similar ideological struggle is being played out between nations.

China is one extreme. For some individuals who have not been prepared to act in what the government considers the best interests of the community the consequences have been detention and “re-education”. Some jurisdictions in the US are on the other end of the spectrum where almost any interference in the right to freedom is an anathema.

However, interfering with human rights through sensible regulation has always been a part of history. A range of mandates have applied across all societies with the intention of protecting the vulnerable. Regulation of business protects people from fraud and inappropriate practices. The same is true for real estate activities, the protection of tenants, regulation of builders and the banking system.

Mandates have applied to military conscription from time to time in most countries. In Australia, young men at 20 years of age were “mandated” to join the military and were sent to fight the unpopular Vietnam War.

Why is Canberra the “wrong” city? As a starting point, 98.6 per cent of Canberrans over the age of 12 years have had at least two jabs. In other words, only 1.4 per cent remain unvaccinated. This is a tiny percentage of unvaccinated people compared to other parts of Australia and absolutely miniscule on an international comparison.

By contrast to Canberra, the fully vaccinated rate according to Johns Hopkins University, is just over 80 per cent for all Canadians and Australians. NSW does not identify the cumulative total over 12, but chooses to use 16 and above. Above 16 there is a 94.1 per cent double vaccination rate and for 12-15 the rate is 78 per cent.

However, the protests are not just about vaccination. The right-wing movement in the US and across the world is fuelling the protests with a broader agenda. Some of the banners being carried through the streets of Canberra make this abundantly clear.

“The Washington Post” is monitoring such protests worldwide. The paper reported: “Protesters waved signs saying ‘GENOCIDE’ and ‘FREEDOM’ in front of Parliament, lawmaker Kristina Keneally warned that the crowd contained ‘individuals that our national security agencies are worried about’. She told reporters: “Some of these protesters actually want to undermine and overturn democracy.’”

The ideological and philosophical struggle is really about concern for self on the one hand, versus concern for community well-being on the other. There are confounding factors between the extremes. The most significant of these is trust. Political practices over the last couple of decades including corrupt practices, bullying, trading policy positions for donations and pork-barrelling have undermined trust.

The lack of trust in politicians plays right into the hands of those who have a sinister agenda. In Wellington, there were violent clashes with police during the demonstrations. Ironically, the Ottawa protests resulted in the city being “locked down” with the mandate to do so coming from truck drivers who simply blocked the central part of the city with their 18 wheelers and refused to move. They used their own mandate to object to mandates!

In Canberra attempts to set up camping areas in front of Parliament House were not successful with police moving the campers to an appropriate location at Epic. From there, they were able to freely move around the city (albeit with the seatbelt mandate in place).

The right to protest is a freedom that is valued in our democratic system and one that ought to be appropriately protected. However, people who protest should also recognise that there are those who have a difference of opinion. In Canberra, with so many people at least double vaccinated, it is likely that the vast majority hold a different opinion.

The demands for more personal freedom and rights from these protesters are a self-centred and selfish approach that flies in the face of good, compassionate community relations that are held dear by the vast majority in Canberra.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006. There are more of his incisive columns on citynews.com.au